Hong Kong’s escaped emu: search still on for owner after bird captured following 3-hour chase on busy roads

Hong Kong authorities are still looking for the owner of an emu that dodged traffic on busy roads and strolled through a public housing estate in the northern part of the city before being captured three hours after its first sighting.

A spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said on Sunday the large, flightless bird would be returned to its owner “if he or she is found”.

Viral videos showed the emu running alongside cars and entering the grounds of a public housing estate, while a driver in another clip could be seen swerving to avoid the bird as it ran in the opposite direction of traffic along Tin Ying Road in Tin Shui Wai.

Police first received a report about the bird at 7.18am on Saturday, after it was seen wandering along an intersection of Tin Sau Road and Tin Ying Road in the district, and then at 9.13am when it was spotted on Wetland Park Road.

The emu was captured by police and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals staff at around 9.50am, about three hours after police received the first report of its sighting. The AFCD took the bird to one of its animal management centres for observation.

A man at the nearby NT Green Garden farm, which a source said had recently reported a missing emu that was later found, told the Post on Sunday the bird captured on Saturday had been raised there. But others at the farm, which was closed when the Post visited in the morning, cut him off and told him to stop speaking to reporters.

The Post could not immediately confirm the identity of the man or his relation to the farm, also known as Hing Chun Farm.

The source said the farm reported a lost emu in April, but it was later found.

An AFCD spokesman said on Sunday it had inspected the farm in Tin Shui Wai in April, noting that it was privately owned and not open to the public with an entry fee, making it exempt from exhibition licensing requirements.

“According to the current record of the AFCD, no emu is licensed to be kept under the existing exhibition licences issued by the department currently,” he said.

NT Green Garden farm in Tin Shui Wai was opened in 2021. Photo: Sam Tsang

The 60,000 sq ft farm opened on April 28, 2021. Located in Tin Shui Wai, it is divided into different zones for agriculture, barbecues, leisure, performances and activities, according to a video posted by the farm.

It hosted camping and farming activities for the Junior Police Call with a visit by the deputy director of the central government’s liaison office in the city, Chen Dong.

A Facebook page affiliated with the premise, NTGG Volunteers, features a video that shows a farming activity organised by Yuen Long district councillor Daniel Cham Ka-hung for residents. Goats can also be seen in the footage.

The farm’s owner Chan Ka-fai, also a district councillor for Yuen Long, and Cham both told the Post they were out of the city currently.